The Shenzhen Stock Exchange-group, being the larger company, will own 80.0 per cent of the joint venture, which will be named Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Finance.

Established in 1998, Hunan TV mainly produces and broadcasts television programmes and has recently expanded into the investment management, tourism and hospitality sectors.

Closing of the deal is subject to the approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

The transaction comes as Hunan TV is looking to deploy its capital efficiently on a business that will begin generating cashflows quickly.

It is also hoping that the soon-to-be incorporated unit will be able to conveniently assist its television broadcasting division in areas such as funds management.

This is not Huanan TV’s first joint venture in the past year as it inked a CNY 1.00 billion deal with five partners, including Yonker Environmental Protection and Talkweb Information System, to form Aier Health Insurance last December.

At the same time, the media group agreed to invest in Chinese online game developer Hangzhou Miaoju Network Technology via two transactions worth a combined CNY 282.80 million.

Hunan TV posted revenue of CNY 7.49 billion in the 12 months ended 31st December 2016, up 25.1 per cent on the CNY 5.99 billion in the previous year.

However, net profit for the period fell 12.6 per cent to CNY 333.14 million from CNY 381.35 million in 2015.

According to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk, there have been 687 announced or completed joint venture deals in China this year.

The largest of these targets is Taihe Assets Management, which was set up with a registered capital of CNY 10.00 billion.